Program Director (Family Medicine)
Dr. Shaista Qureshi is a Native Tribal Pashtun originally from Afghanistan. Her passion for medicine and education has resulted in many teaching and clinical awards throughout her career. Dr. Qureshi moved to Huntsville, Alabama to become the founding Program Director of our program.
Dr. Qureshi is Fellowship trained in high risk/operative Ob/Gyn from University of Texas Medical Branch in Austin, Texas. After her fellowship, she started as Core Teaching Faculty at Boston University where she worked as a Laborist for nine years in one of the country’s best Ob/Gyn & Family Medicine collaboration models and taught the Ob/Gyn, FM and ED residents on Labor and Delivery. She received the “Teacher of the Year” Award from the Ob/Gyn residents in 2013 at Boston University. She also received the Best Teacher Award from the Boston University medical students in 2011. She served as core teaching faculty and Director of the Inpatient Medicine at University of Connecticut and is one of the first ever family physicians to serve as a Laborist in the State of Connecticut with full obstetric privileges, where she supervised Ob/Gyn and Family Medicine residents. She received the “Distinguished Teacher” award from UCONN medical students in her continuity practice. She also received the “Schwartz Distinction in Teaching” Award from UConn Family Medicine graduating class in 2015.
Dr. Qureshi served as the Director of Obstetrics, Maternal/Child and Women’s Health and core teaching faculty at Carolinas Healthcare Family Medicine Residency Program from 2016 to 2018 and then joined the VA system as their Leader in Women’s Health from 2019 to 2021. In 2021, Dr. Qureshi moved to Huntsville after accepting the Program Directorship position, where she currently resides and practices at Crestwood Medical Center.
Dr. Qureshi speaks nine languages and takes pride in taking care of the culturally diverse population. She has volunteered for numerous local shelter clinics in Boston, Connecticut and North Carolina and takes pleasure in serving the homeless, indigent and refugee populations. Dr. Qureshi is very passionate about Women’s Health and Obstetrics and her focus has always been on Maternal/Child health. She is an ALSO Faculty Advisor (Advanced Life Support in Obstetrics) and has been conducting ALSO courses nationally and internationally for the past 22 years. Dr. Qureshi served on the Continuing Medical Education committees of both Massachusetts and Connecticut Chapters of American Academy of Family Medicine and has represented minority physicians numerous times in Kansas City. She has also been actively serving on ethics committees for the last 21 years and is especially interested in ethical principles related to patient care, shared decision making as well as ethical issues in Obstetric and newborn care.
Dr. Qureshi is currently practicing in Huntsville. When not working, she loves to spend time with her family and kittens, listening to music, reading spiritually uplifting books, gardening and personal wellness with prayers, deep breathing and meditation.